#27.2 on the bike

I stopped for lunch at a village cafe/store. This young lady was waiting for her take out. This young man was very curious. Heres some local traffic. Thats my hired motorbike and hat hanging on the mirror.
I stayed only two nights in VV. I needed to keep moving, to get back into Thailand and to Chiang Mai. There are two daily busses from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. The morning bus is more desirable as it gets you into the capital at a reasonable hour. So it's nearly twice the price as the afternoon bus. I wanted to get to the border and across so I took the morning run. It would get me there early enough to get the 3:30 shuttle to the border. The bus did not drop us at the main station. I don't know why. I caught a tuk tuk. The driver offered to take me the 19 km to the border for 300 bht. ($10). The bus was only about one dollar. Except that the 3:30 was full. The next one was 6 P.M., and also the premium price of $1.25. I bought a ticket, and then thought to ask around for a tuk tuk. I didn't want to wait 2 1/2 hours. I found a driver for 200 bht, and off we went. My driver wanted to stop for a Beer Lao. I wanted to get there. At the border I tipped him kip, enough for a big bottle.
There is an exit fee in Laos. The Lonely Planet said it would be about $15. I had baht, dollars and about $2.00 in kip. The fee was 2,500 kip! That's about 30 cents! Why bother.
The border was chaos. There must have been a thousand people trying to cross. There were three windows open. It took three hours (until 7 P.M.) to get through. More and more busses kept arriving from across the Friendship Bridge. If I had taken the 6 o' clock, I would have crossed at 10 P.M.
It's time to meet Manchester Mike for our afternoon Chang beer.
Bye for now, Doahlah